When Madmen Lead the Blind
by Beast of Waste and Desolation
Summary: "Tis the times' plague, when madmen lead the blind." ― William Shakespeare, Hamlet. When a great tragedy strikes the West, Inuyasha is forced into a position he never thought he would occupy. With new allies and enemies, forgotten talents, and a strange connection with his deceased brother, Inuyasha learns that there might be a place where he belongs after all.


_When Madmen Lead the Blind _

By: Beast of Waste and Desolation

Chapter One

* * *

"Our wills and fates do so contrary run."

Hamlet, Shakespeare

* * *

_Izayoi was dying, Inuyasha knew. There was no way it could be hidden, the evidence scripted plainly in the pallor of her skin and the weakness of her breathing. And even if she had looked as healthy as he, Inuyasha would have known because there was a twisting in his heart and a pushing in his stomach that made him feel claustrophobic and restive and scared. _

_ Inuyasha could feel the death that crept ever closer, he could smell it in his mother's breath and he could hear it in between her heartbeats. And he wanted to snap and claw at it, to destroy it and chase it away from his mother. He wanted death to avoid her like it did him, the half human whose demon blood lent him timelessness. _

_ But he couldn't do anything, and he hated being useless so, so much. He hated it more than he hated his mother's imminent death, which made him feel selfish and bad, but it was true. He hated being near his mother on her worse days because he was so strongly reminded of his inadequacy then. He would rather be outside, teaching himself to be stronger, than inside and watching his mother die because he was as stupid and useless as those other nobles said, and he couldn't save him mother._

_ Izayoi was dying. Inuyasha could feel the part inside of him that his bond with her resided, and when he was walking, hating the sun and the grass and the talking, living, _healthy_ people, he felt that part of him squeeze and contract until he bent over, choking on pain and fear. His heart was racing and his breath was shallow and fast, and his legs were moving and his arms were pumping even before he told himself to run. _

_ The home that Inuyasha and his mother shared with her parents was not large enough to be considered a palace, but they were wealthy and descended from a noble line and the house was quite large. Inuyasha had liked that, had like the sense of separation from the world it had given him and Izayoi, but now all he wanted was for the compound to be so small that one leap would bring him to his mother's bedside. He scrambled over the lacquered floors and clawed at the sliding doors, and if she had been healthy enough to do so, his mother would have scolded Inuyasha for his rumpled clothes and mussed hair. But, no matter how hard Inuyasha wished she was able to scold him for a thousand years straight, that was not so. _

_ His grandparents crouched on one side of Izayoi's bed and Inuyasha's heart sank to see their normally disapproving faces smeared with tears when they glanced up at the sound of his footsteps. His mother's face was blotchy and her hair matted and Inuyasha thought that she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen because her chest was still rising and falling. _

_ "Mother?" Inuyasha asked in a shaky voice. "You are alright, are you not? Please tell me you are well. Mother?" His grandfather hushed him though his voice was hardly more than a whisper, but his mother opened her eyes and smiled at him._

_ Something knotted in Inuyasha's throat and the backs of his eyes burned even though he knew that they were filling with water. _

_ "Inuyasha, my son," said Izayoi. "I am so proud of you."_

_ "No," Inuyasha whispered. "No. No, no, no." He fell to his knees; the something in his chest began tightening and pulsing. _

_ "My beautiful, strong prince," Izayoi said, and her smile was so sad that Inuyasha wanted to cry. His eyes wanted to cry too, overcrowded with tears as they were. But Inuyasha knew that tears were a sign of grief, and he would grieve if his mother died. And if his mother died he would cry; if he cried his mother would be dead. If he did not cry his mother would stay alive. And even though he knew his logic was flawed, Inuyasha did not cry._

_ "I am not strong, nor am I beautiful," Inuyasha stated firmly. "You are not dying. Stop lying to me."_

_ "Royalty does not deny the truth when they are faced with it. They are strong enough not to lie to themselves," Izayoi said. "And Inuyasha, my beautiful son, you are royalty. I am not lying to you." She exhaled sharply before her eyes closed and Inuyasha's grandmother let out a wail._

_ That something in Inuyasha's chest spun and spun, dancing painfully and wickedly until it finally frayed and broke, forcing Inuyasha to hunch over in pain. His head hurt, his eyes hurt, his chest hurt, and he felt death's presence, the constant death that he had noticed for months, suddenly leave. The air lightened, the rays of light falling into the room grew brighter, and Inuyasha loathed all of it. _

_ "Stop lying to me!" He wailed, head tilted back, inhuman—immortal—fangs glinting as he howled his loss to the world._

_ His eyes held no tears._

* * *

His mother would be disappointed, Inuyasha thinks dispassionately as he slashes at the demon. She wouldn't say it outright, but he can almost imagine the narrowing of her eyes and the setting of her jaw and the memory of that expression makes him flush in shame. He finds it rather bizarre that this is happening in the middle of a battle, but he's been a little out of it for a while, almost like the time before his mother's—.

No. He refuses to think about that. He returns to the fight with focused attention, stretching past the bounds he has set for himself and dodging past Kagome and Shippo with ridiculous speed. Kagome shrieks as he passes, but he ignores her and launches himself at the bat demon's wings. His mother wouldn't like that either, him ignoring a woman, even if she would disapprove of Kagome's silly revealing outfit and her freedom with her power and emotions. She would disapprove of all his traveling companions, whether he was with them voluntarily or not, and he can almost imagine the look on her face if she saw them. He can also imagine the look on her face if she could see _him_ now. Him, Inuyasha, Prince of the West and son of the Lady Izayoi, with his tangled hair and dirty fire rat robe and deteriorated language full of curses and slurs.

Inuyasha shakes his head and gives a short pained cry as the bat demon swerves on one wing and makes that short high-pitched sound that only seems to affect Kirara and him. Echolocation, Kagome had called it earlier, but he doesn't care what it's called, only that it's affecting his ability to finish it off. He shakes his head again and shifts to get a better grip on Tessaiga. He loves his sword and would never trade it for a new one, but sometimes he feels like the size is almost a disability.

There's a loud noise as the bat demon lands, and Inuyasha is immediately on guard. As a demon capable of flight equipped with a jewel shard, the overgrown bat shouldn't be landing at this stage in the fight. There has to be some strategy to this move and Inuyasha won't relax until he knows what it is.

And he also wants to finish this battle quickly. He's been restless for these past few days, like he wants—no _needs_—to go somewhere, but he can't figure out where. He has a pretty good idea of why though, because Sesshomaru has been sending out faint distress waves that won't leave him alone, and though he isn't on best terms with his brother he knows the Lord of the West is sending the message straight to him, _only _to him. And he's doing it using their bond-line, something that makes Inuyasha extremely apprehensive because their bond-line is also distressed and the last time that happened his mother-.

"Hello, bastard Prince," the bat demon chirps out in a strangely high voice. "You seem a little distracted today. You should just stand still and let me kill you, and then you'll have all the time in the world to think." It lets out one of those laughs that Inuyasha just _knows_ is meant to sound clever and conniving but ends up coming out rather manic.

Inuyasha snarls, but his heart isn't in it. "Yeah right, like I'll ever let that happen. Why don't _you_ just stay right there and let me chop your ugly face off." He glances to his right and sees Miroku standing by Sango on Kirara. "Oi, Miroku," he shouts. "Can you get him with your Wind Tunnel?"

The monk nods and Inuyasha turns back to the demon satisfied. "Well that's that it for you then. Have a nice time wherever the hell you're going." He sheathes Tessaiga and plants his feet in the dirt.

"Your mother would be _so_ disappointed if she saw you now, you stupid Prince," the demon drawls, grinning with glee and apparently uncaring of his upcoming doom. "Traveling with _humans_, looking like a _vagabond_. And the way you _speak_! Oh, you sound like a-!"

Inuyasha lunges at the demon, sword forgotten and claws outstretched in a technique he hadn't used in so long. The demon dodges easily, Inuyasha too furious to be exact enough, and snickers.

"Oh, is that a _touchy_ _subject_ for the little Prince? Does the great Inuyasha _miss_ his _mommy_?" Inuyasha gives an inarticulate cry of rage, his vision narrowing until all he can see is his opponent.

"Miroku," he snarls as the winds begin to pick up around him. "Forget I said anything. This one's _mine_!" From behind him he can hear Kagome's concern and Sango's doubt, but Miroku does as he says and he feels pleased.

"You've certainly trained your humans well," the bat demon mocks. "The dog's dogs. How _amusing_."

"They aren't my pets," Inuyasha says and he knows that letting himself getting so carried away by anger isn't good for fighting, but the bat demon is so frustrating that he cannot help but let it happen. "I haven't trained them at all. They're annoying and they do whatever they want, but sometimes they show decent judgment." He lunges again. "_Iron reaver, soul stealer!"_

"Why aren't you using you sword?" The bat demon asks as it dodges Inuyasha again. "If you aren't going to use it, you might as well give it to your brother. He'll probably put it to better use. Oh, but that _won't matter soon_."

Inuyasha freezes and with extreme force of will pushes all anger and hate from his mind. He looks at the bat demon, which is perching on top of a sagging tree. It's watching him with amused eyes, but he doesn't pay any attention to that. He has heard of bat demons before—they aren't common but they aren't rare either—and he knows that they are extremely hard to defeat. He also knows that they usually only come out during the night and that they prefer to make clean, quick kills. When he was younger he had traveled with this one free-lancing demon-hunter, and, from the stories that he told, Inuyasha knows that if you can engage a bat demon in combat they don't talk at all, preferring to use all their energy to win quickly.

If that's the case, then this demon must be trying to distract him, to keep him from something.

Inuyasha's eyes widen and suddenly he's so overcome with panic that he doesn't hear Kagome's footsteps as she approaches with Shippo on her shoulder. The bat demon is entirely forgotten.

"No," he murmurs, falling to his knees. Panic is flooding through him and it's stiffening his joints and making his limbs tremble. His heart is beating in his chest and it feels like it's wearing a spot there. "No. No, no, no. Oh, Kami, please no."

Kagome rushes up beside him.

"Inuyasha, are you alright? Inuyasha?" She asks, but he doesn't hear her.

Inuyasha focuses all of his attention on his bond-line with Sesshomaru. It's there, faint and fading, but still there. There are waves of distress radiating from it and Inuyasha wants to kill himself for not rushing to his bother's side when he first noticed it. He sends his panic to Sesshomaru, thinking over and over _I'm coming I'm coming_, and he hopes that his brother can hold his own against whatever he is fighting long enough for Inuyasha reach him. _I'm coming, brother_, he whispers. _I'm coming. Wait for me._

He wants to move his limbs, and he tries desperately, but the panic and the memory of his mother's death fight against his will. There is something spinning and spinning in Inuyasha's chest and his eyes burn with tears. His breaths are coming in short, sobbing gasps and the knocking of his heart against his ribs drowns out the cries of his traveling companions.

"No. No, no. Please no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Kami no. Not again, no. No, no, no, no. Please brother." Inuyasha cannot make his limbs move and he sends his desperation to Sesshomaru. Their bond-line is growing fainter and fainter, but Inuyasha can still feel the distress fade away and change until all that his brother's sending him is the affection that he never shows.

Inuyasha's breath gets faster and faster until he thinks he might be what Kagome calls hyperventilating. _No, brother,_ he says to Sesshomaru. _No. Please don't._

He feels Sesshomaru send him something warm and caring and Inuyasha lets out a little moan. _Be strong, little brother_. Sesshomaru says. _It will be okay. Remember what Izayoi taught you. And most of all, remember, Prince of the West, that you are royalty._

The bond-line between them suddenly snaps and Inuyasha howls in pain. He is vaguely aware of a cacophony of sounds around him but all he can feel is _sorrow_ and _hurt_ and _horror_.

"Ha ha!" The bat demon crows. "The Lord of the West has been slaughtered like the common dog he is! You poor, poor Prince, all alone with no family. No one wants to be with a disgusting half-breed like you. I bet your pathetic brother was _glad_ to die just so he wouldn't have to live with the knowledge that he was _related_ to _filth_ like you!"

Inuyasha can hear gasps from his companions gathered around him. He knows that Kirara and Shippo also must be similarly affected—all demons under the West's rule have a bond-line to their Lord—but his bond is—_was_—stronger than all others because Sesshomaru shared his blood. The grief that comes with a bond so strong being broken affects Inuyasha like nothing else since his mother's death.

The bat demon's words break through the haze in his mind. He doesn't actually listen to it—he doesn't know exactly what the demon says—but he recognizes it as the obstruction that prevented him from reaching his brother. He stands up, the panic flowing from his limbs replaced with something that Inuyasha distractedly recognizes as his demon blood. He ignores Kagome and Sango and Miroku as they beg for someone to tell them what is happening and starts to pace toward where the bat demon perches. His vision turns red and his heart pounds not with fear but with _hate hate hate._

"I'm going to make you _hurt,_" he says, and lunges.


End file.
